Pantheism nurturing global following

Adherents find God in the environment

Saturday November 15, 2003

By Mary Jacobs
Religion News Service

"God is not the voice in the whirlwind," novelist Margaret Atwood
wrote. "God is the whirlwind." If you believe that, you may be a
pantheist: a person who views the universe and nature as divine.

Once an obscure philosophy touted only by the rare intellectual,
pantheism is weighing in again on the spiritual scene, thanks to the
Internet. The World Pantheist Movement, founded in 1998, now claims
2,000 members in 56 countries, with active local groups in San Diego,
Calif., London, Cleveland and other cities.
                
But founder Paul Harrison of Calabasas, Calif., believes there are
many more out there who are pantheists and just don't know it.

"I've talked to many, many people who said, 'I've felt this way all
along but didn't know there was a name for it,' " he said.

"Do you feel a deep sense of peace and belonging in the midst of
nature?" asks the group's Web site, www.pantheism.net. If so, "then
you will feel thoroughly at home in the World Pantheist Movement." The
site quotes the pantheistic philosophies of Albert Einstein, Stephen
Hawking, Carl Sagan, Henry David Thoreau and Mikhail Gorbachev, who
said: "To me, nature is sacred. Trees are my temples and forests are
my cathedrals."

Seeing the universe as a profound unity, pantheists turn to nature for
spiritual inspiration. Harrison spends time every day in nature,
meditating on a star-filled night or watching the waves at the
seashore. In practical terms, a pantheist expresses devotion by caring
for the environment.

Katherine Peil, a Seattle psychologist and member of the World
Pantheist Movement, believes pantheism offers hope for avoiding
clashes among people of different religions. "If any religion can be
global, it's pantheism, because it's based on nature, something we all
have in common," she said.

"Almost everyone has a profound love of nature," Harrison said. "Even
people who call themselves Christians, for example, might have
stronger feelings about nature than about traditional religious
teachings."

Harrison, an ecologist, found a kind of salvation in pantheism. A
professed atheist, he fell into a depression until a job on a farm led
him to spend time in nature every day. "I shifted from seeing life in
negative to extremely positive terms," he said. "For me, the whole
pantheism thing is emotional."

Ignorance of the word pantheism poses the group's biggest obstacle,
but Harrison is hopeful because he sees acceptance of pantheistic
ideas in the popularity of films such as the "Star Wars" series and in
animated films such as "Pocahontas" and "The Lion King." "When someone
calls on the Force, they are not calling on God, they are calling on
the universe," he said. He also sees pantheism in the writings of many
environmentalists, including Al Gore's book, "Earth in the Balance."

To their dismay, evangelical Christians are seeing pantheism in pop
culture, too. Google the word "pantheism" and the search engine turns
up many sites such as Plugged In, a Web site and magazine analyzing
films and music from a Christian perspective. Editor Bob Smithouser
points out pantheistic elements in animated films such as "Spirited
Away" and "The Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within," calling the latter
"the slickest presentation of ecopantheism since Pocahontas."

Pantheism's emphasis on caring for nature promotes benign values,
Smithouser says, but it rejects the notion of God as a separate,
personal being, as understood by Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
Christian doctrine labels pantheism heretical; according to the
Catholic Encyclopedia, "The church has repeatedly condemned the errors
of pantheism."

However, without a personal notion of God, people can experience the
divine more freely, pantheist Katherine Peil said. "We see God in all
of nature, which liberates religion and eliminates the need for
intermediaries," said Peil, a Seattle psychologist. "You don't need
Scripture, or popes, or channelers, and you don't need devils."


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